Mac/Garageband newbie - any tips?

Hattigol

Mac and Presonus have landed. Garageband is up and running - after watching a few YouTube videos and trying to suss things myself, I have bluffed my way along - have a song done (guitar, bass, auto-drums - which are a revelation).

Very impressed with it so far - fairly user-friendly. Anyone got any indispensable tips to make further projects easier/better?

rico

Practice practice practice! Perhaps learn the shortcut key combinations to speed up workflow, turn on and off snapping etc?

octatonic

Try to use the mouse as little as possible and use key commands where you can.
Key commands worth knowing:

S: solo current track
M: mute current track
Space bar: Play/Stop
A: Show automation
Up/Down arrows: move up/down tracks
R: Record

There are a load of other ones- google "Garageband Key Commands" for the full list but this should get you started.

Flanging_Fred

I’m in the same boat, I just got a MacBook Pro and a Focusrite Scarlett this week and have also started with GarageBand. 

I’ll need to make a shortcut chest sheet until it becomes muscle memory.  In fact that goes for everything, I’ve never had a Mac before and always used windows so it’s all a bit strange right now.

roundthebend

I'm in the same boat too.
I've used GarageBand a little bit so for me the thing I'm really keen to learn is a workflow for recording a tune.

e.g. I recently recorded but didn't pay attention to the metronome/bpm so it was quite tricky to lay tracks up on top of each other with accuracy. I probably need to put a computer drum track down to keep my timing.

Koa

I found out the hard way that consistency of tuning is important after quickly recording a basic track with an acoustic that had drifted out by a half step....doh

spark240

So in my limited experience, Garage band has difficulty exporting stems to other users, Octatonic enlightened me...

 Have you tried the Presonus Artist software ?

 As a starter I would say make sure you have some sort of save system, or song naming system...before you know it you will have tons of songs with just the date or some pre determined file name...;-)

Good luck ...have fun. 

Cookiemonster

I would suggest studio one. There is a free version and Artist comes with a lot of products. Pro though is on splice is 13 pounds a month

It's easy to use, but is powerful as well. 

JohnS37

I use GB and Logic too, depending on the nature of the project.  My first choice is Logic, but that’s only because I want to refine my Logic skills, GB will do most of what I want to do, it is extremely capable when you know your way around.
You asked for tips, so here’s one that has helped me a lot.
As someone who records his own songs, track by track, by myself, I often find that I am getting tangled up in leads - guitar lead, headphones, trying to reach the record button and messing it all up.  My playing space is usually a few yards away from my Mac, so I bought myself a Bluetooth mini-keyboard that I use to press the record button from a distance.  Works really well and saves me having two-minute intros to all my recordings.
Just a thought . . .

Haych

If you have an iPhone or iPad (iPad works better TBH) you can download Logic Remote and use your iPad/iPhone as a control surface in GarageBand and Logic.

hollywoodrox

https://thegaragebandguide.com/the-garageband-quick-start-guide

You can get a free guide here and the guy has a mailing list that sends out emails on GarageBand.  He also has a YouTube channel with videos on how to do stuff.

there is a Mac GarageBand guide and an iOS one  plus info on resources and plugins.

you cannot go wrong . Plus check out Pete johns channel below. He also knows all of most there is to know about getting started

https://youtu.be/Qt6eg1VMnMY

hollywoodrox

A few days ago I got an email from Patrick of the GarageBand guide listing the best free plugins and plugin bundles for GarageBand 

It’s the latest on his YouTube channel I think

axisus

I love garageband, it's so simple compared to other stuff. Suits me!

Having said that, I don't like the new version compared to older ones. Apple always bugger up their good stuff eventually.